Satsaṅga
Satsaṅga · sat-saṅga, “company of the good”
Grammar: masculine noun; a compound of sat (the good) and saṅga (company, attachment): “the company of the good”. Its opposite is asat-saṅga, the company of the wicked.
Meaning: keeping company with sādhus, the bhaktas of Śrī Hari, where only his accounts are spoken. In the Bhāgavata Purāṇa satsaṅga gives rise to bhakti and is the surest means of crossing saṃsāra.
In the scriptures: the Bhāgavata Purāṇa praises satsaṅga from the Second Skandha to the Twelfth.
Talk of the good. Śaunaka asks Sūta to go on with the account, for the talks that arise in an assembly of good people turn only into the accounts of Śrī Hari (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 3).
The open door of moksha. Kapila tells his mother Devahūti that attachment to saṃsāra is a firm noose, but the same attachment turned to the company of sādhus is the open door of moksha; in the company of the good one hears his accounts, which give joy to the heart and the ears and show his glory (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 25). Among the means of bhakti he names hearing the adhyātma śāstra, singing his names, being straightforward, keeping satsaṅga and giving up ahaṅkāra (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 29).
The company of the wicked. Kapila warns that even one on the good path, if he takes to the company of the wicked who live for desire and the belly, reaches naraka again. Bad company destroys satya, inner and outer purity, dayā, mauna, viveka, wealth, vinaya, kīrti, patience, conquest of the mind, control of the senses and jñāna. The wicked, deluded and ruled by bad women like play-dolls, have no peace and are to be pitied, not befriended; no company binds the jīva as the company of bad women and of those who keep company with them (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 31).
Better than svarga or moksha. In the stotra Rudra teaches the Pracetas, neither svarga nor moksha equals half a moment of satsaṅga with the bhaktas of Bhagavān Śrī Hari, still less the desires of mortals (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 24). When Śrī Hari offered the Pracetas a vara, they asked that while they wander in saṃsāra they may have the company of his great bhaktas birth after birth. Even a trace of that company, they said, is not equalled by svarga or moksha, much less by human riches; there his accounts are sung, attachment to saṃsāra thins, enmity among beings goes and fears vanish, and Nārāyaṇa, the goal of those who have renounced all attachment, is praised again and again (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 30).
Leaving attachment. Jaḍabharata tells Rahūgaṇa that a man should leave attachment to saṃsāra and keep satsaṅga with mahātmās (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 12). By brief company with good beings, true vairāgya arose in Ajāmila and he gave up all worldly attachment (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 2). Prahlāda tells his father Hiraṇyakaśipu that people should leave the house, go to the forest, which the text glosses as satsaṅga, and take refuge in Śrī Hari; this alone brings welfare (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapter 5).
When release draws near. Akrūra prays: “O Padmanābha, when the end of saṃsāra draws near, a man’s mind becomes fixed on you through satsaṅga” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 40). Mucukunda tells Śrī Hari that when the time comes for a man wandering in saṃsāra to be freed, then alone he gains satsaṅga, and with it bhakti for him arises (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 51). Sudāma prayed that in every birth he might have love for Śrī Kṛshṇa alone, his friendship, service to him, and satsaṅga with his bhaktas (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 81).
What satsaṅga wins. Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Uddhava that to one who gains bhakti through the company of the sat-purushas, they show his parama-pada, and he attains him easily; there is no other good means to cross saṃsāra than the bhakti-yoga born of satsaṅga, for the goal of the good is Śrī Kṛshṇa alone (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 11). Neither yoga nor sāṅkhya, dharma, the Veda, tapas, sannyāsa, agnihotra, dāna, vrata, yajña, mantra, pilgrimage to tīrthas, the niyamas, the yamas, nor works for the good of the people bring him under control as satsaṅga does. Without study of the Vedas, service of mahātmās, vratas or tapas, many reached his state through satsaṅga alone: asuras, rākshasas, gandharvas, apsarases, nāgas, siddhas, cāraṇas, yakshas, vidyādharas, vaiśyas and antyajas; Vṛtra, Prahlāda, Vṛshaparvan, Bali, Bāṇa, Maya, Vibhīshaṇa, Sugrīva, Hanumān, Jāmbavān, Gajendra, Jaṭāyu, Tulādhāra, Dharmavyādha, Kubjā, the gopīs and the wives of the yājñikas. They did so in every yuga, and many others besides (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 12).
Purūravas. The sādhaka should give up the company of the wicked and keep the company of the good, who cut away his attachments with wholesome words. Through such satsaṅga Purūravas gave up his desire for the loka of Urvaśī and moved about the earth steadfast in the Ātmā (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 26).
Śiva and Mārkaṇḍeya. Śiva tells Pārvatī that meeting the satpurushas is the highest gain for human beings, and so they will go and speak with Mārkaṇḍeya; the text explains this as Śiva’s līlā to proclaim the glory of satsaṅga (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 12, Chapter 10).
Related terms: Sādhu · Sat-purusha · Bhakti · Saṃsāra · Vairāgya · Hari-kathā
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 3; Skandha 3, Chapters 25, 29, 31; Skandha 4, Chapters 24, 30; Skandha 5, Chapter 12; Skandha 6, Chapter 2; Skandha 7, Chapter 5; Skandha 10, Chapters 40, 51, 81; Skandha 11, Chapters 11–12, 26; Skandha 12, Chapter 10